What evidence do you need for a roof insurance claim?

Take more pictures than you think you need, and take them before anything is moved or mopped up. Start wide with the whole elevation of the house showing the damaged slope, then move closer to the missing tiles, the bent ridge or the fallen branch. Add a few of the surroundings, such as tiles lying in the garden or a fence panel flattened by the same gust, because they show the scale of the event.

Indoors, photograph the ceiling stain, the drip, the wet carpet and any bucket you have put down. Place something familiar in the frame, a coin or a tape measure, so the size is clear. Leave your phone's date and time stamp switched on, and keep the original files without cropping or editing them.

Stay on the ground throughout. Zoom in from the pavement or the lawn, and never climb a ladder or lean out of a window for a better angle. A roofer can photograph the same area safely afterwards, with proper access.

The Financial Ombudsman Service, which settles disputes over home insurance, explains that it looks at three things: whether a storm really did occur on the day of the damage, whether the damage fits what storms generally cause, and whether the weather was the main reason the roof failed. Your evidence should help with each one.

Jot down the time you first spotted the damage, along with the conditions outside and anything you heard or saw. A short note made that same day carries more weight than a memory months later. Then save a record of the weather for the date, such as a forecast page or a news report about the storm, so the date does not rest on your word alone.

Many insurers rely on a storm test that counts wind gusts of 55mph or more, as Which? reported in November 2025. Your own policy wording says which definition your insurer applies, so read it before you submit anything.

Advice put out by the insurance industry during Storm Eunice in 2022 told householders to hold on to receipts, since they become part of the claim. That covers a call-out for an emergency make-safe, boards or sheeting bought to cover a hole, a skip, a dehumidifier hire, even a hotel night if the house became unusable.

Ask for each receipt to say what was done, on which date and at which address. A bare payment on a bank statement is weaker than an invoice describing the work. If a contractor quotes only a verbal figure, ask for it on paper before they leave.

Before you pay for anything beyond a basic make-safe, read our page on repairing a roof before you claim. The same advice asks you to phone your insurer before anything else, and the order in which things happen can affect what is accepted later.

A useful roofer's report describes what was found, where it is and what is needed to fix it, in plain terms with photographs attached. It names the covering (slate, concrete tile, clay, felt), points out the damaged areas and says what is sound. If a lead flashing has lifted, it says so. If a tile slipped because its nail fixings had corroded, it says that too.

That second kind of finding matters. Policies often leave out gradual deterioration, and the Ombudsman will rarely support a complaint where the wind merely revealed a defect from before the storm. A report that states the cause plainly serves you better than one written to sound dramatic, because an insurer's own inspector will check it. Our page on wear and tear and roof claims explains where that line tends to fall.

Some damage never shows from the garden. A flat roof that has failed over a kitchen or an extension may appear only as a stain, a bubble in the plaster or a damp patch creeping along a wall. Photograph the ceiling over several days so the spread is recorded, and note whether it worsens after rain. Our page on emergency flat roof leaks covers what to do while the water is still coming in.

Shining a torch into the loft from the hatch can show daylight through the covering, wet insulation or a dark trail down a rafter. Photograph it from the hatch only and do not step between the joists, because a plasterboard ceiling will not take your weight.

Keep a simple log as you go: a line for each photograph, with the date, the room or elevation and what it shows. Twenty minutes spent tidying it up now saves an argument later.

Skyline does not talk to insurers for you and cannot tell you whether a claim will be accepted. First we make a leaking roof safe, and then we inspect and photograph the damage and set out the findings. Our written quote follows the survey, so you hold a document that describes the fault and the work needed.

If a claim has already been turned down, our page on what to do when a roof claim is rejected sets out the complaint route. For the repair itself, our advice is the smallest repair that fully deals with the problem, and every job carries a written 10-year workmanship guarantee. More on emergency cover is on our emergency roof repairs page.